<p dir="ltr">I am local and just at the foot of the mountain where wd4des is located. In down for a ham net on 2m or 440. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I have a Yaseu FT8800 and love it. The 8900 does a few more bands but they are essentially the same radio. </p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 5, 2014 6:44 PM, "Rod" <<a href="mailto:rod-lists@epbfi.com">rod-lists@epbfi.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<u></u>

<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:courier new,monospace">BTW I have a Baofeng UV-5R, and absolutely love it. Just be sure to get the programming cable as well as the radio.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:courier new,monospace">

<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:courier new,monospace">Cheers and happy QSOing, de K4RNT Loudoun County, Virginia</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><font face="courier new, monospace">" ' With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie as wisdom and warning... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on we’re all damaged." - Jean-Luc Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie, Star Trek: TNG episode "The Drumhead"<br>

<div dir="ltr">Currently I think I would recommend the UV-5Re+. I have the GT-3 and my first one had a faulty mic port that causes it to constantly transmit until you torque the port a bit with a screwdriver to make it stop. I just got my replacement today. <div>

<br></div><div>the replacement came with a different rubber ducky antenna than the original I bought and it is terrible. From just west of Strawberry Plains I could hit a repeater in Bean station on 2 Meter with the original ducky. I couldn't even get the repeater to respond with the one that came on my replacement.</div>

<div><br></div><div>I built a nice J-Pole for about $25 that works VERY well. <a href="http://www.fwarc.org/Ant%20articles/J%20Pole%20Antenna.htm" target="_blank">http://www.fwarc.org/Ant%20articles/J%20Pole%20Antenna.htm</a></div>

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</div><div>I bought a patch cable and SMA Female to SO239 adapter and even with my little HT I get perfect signal reports on repeaters 30-40 miles out.</div><div><br></div><div>As an alternative you can just find repeaters that support EchoLink and just use them, though your session will timeout if you are just listening.</div>